Open Polytechnic’s new digital platform, iQualify, will deliver world-class online learning for its students and open up new education and training opportunities for other organisations.

Developed in-house by Open Polytechnic, New Zealand’s largest distance learning provider, the iQualify platform is built to deliver media rich online courses and teaching across multiple devices including computer, tablet and smartphones.

It’s also designed to provide affordable access to high quality online learning for other education providers and organisations.

Hon Steven Joyce, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, spoke at the launch event today (2 July) after seeing a demonstration of the capabilities of iQualify.

Learners will be able to login to iQualify from their computer, tablet or smartphones and it allows them to create searchable study notes next to their course materials, and supports media rich content such as video and interactive quizzes.

“Open Polytechnic has always been a leader in the delivery of online and distance learning in New Zealand”, says Open Polytechnic Chief Executive Dr Caroline Seelig. “We’ve taken our almost 70 years of expertise in learning design to create iQualify, which will lead the next phase of our organisation’s digital transformation.”

“E-Learning using iQualify has tremendous potential to enhance the quality and accessibility of education on a very cost-effective basis both for the Open Polytechnic and more broadly across New Zealand’s wider education and training sector”, says Open Polytechnic Council Chair Murray Bain.

Over 800 of the Open Polytechnic’s own students have already been taught through iQualify, and Open Polytechnic will progressively move all of its programmes onto the platform over coming months.

Along with connecting with other education providers, Open Polytechnic is marketing iQualify to employers, industry and professional organisations for online training.

Designed as a white label online platform, partners will be able to use their own branding on iQualify. “That means organisations can deliver online education under their own brand name in a cost effective way without having on-going technology development, risk or maintenance costs”, says Dr Seelig.

Open Polytechnic Chief Technology Officer, Shanan Holm, who led the technical development of iQualify, says it’s been designed to deliver a motivating and engaging experience for students who are studying in their own time and place.

“It’s also driven by powerful analytics, so we can see how students are engaging in the learning materials and track their progress, and make improvements based on how we’re seeing students use the platform.”